The Orienteering World Cup will enter a new era from 2025 with a new organising setup behind the premiere series of global elite orienteering competitions.
The IOF will manage and develop the event with strong support from Verein Swiss Cup, part of the current World Cup consortium, Svensk Orientering Events AB and the Czech Orienteering Federation.
The parties share a mutual interest in developing the World Cup together and the organisers in Switzerland, Sweden and Czechia have declared their interest in organising recurring World Cup rounds.
The shared understanding is set out in an MoU that runs from 2025-2030.
“We are really excited about this cooperation, as we see this as a strong foundation for creating an even more exciting Orienteering World Cup together. We have taken huge steps in recent years, when it comes to improving the overall quality of the event and I see it only growing with the extensive experience of our partners combined with new local ambitious organizers from our member countries,” IOF CEO Henrik Eliasson says.
Brigitte Grüniger Huber from Verein Swiss Cup is very happy to have more regular organizers joining the IOF World Cup Steering Group, that continues the initiative the Swiss organizers started 5 years ago with the IOF.
“For us it is great to see, that the Orienteering World Cup races are again very important in the calendar of the national teams and we have taken good steps in the right direction with the World Cup Consortium from 2020-2024,” she says.
The Swedish Orienteering Federation and Svensk Orientering Events AB are very much looking forward to further contribute to the development of international orienteering through the new World Cup MoU.
“The recurring hosting of major international events in Sweden will benefit the development of our sport also on a national and regional level, through broadened organizers competence, extended media coverage and visibility as well as stronger partnerships,” says Event Manager Fredrik Ahnlén.
Jan Picek, vice president of the Czech Orienteering Federation is delighted to join the new World Cup Steering Group and play a part in the development of the event in the coming years.
“We are really happy to be part of it and try to bring new ideas for an even better Orienteering World Cup,” he says.
More than 60 teams lined up for the Orienteering World Cup Sprint Relay in Česká Lípa, Czechia on August 3rd, 2023. Photo: Petr Hap
Three key objectives
The parties have defined a number of key objectives for their cooperation in the next 5 years:
– The Orienteering World Cup must be attractive for athletes and national teams.
– It must provide exciting and interesting competitions for rights holders, media, spectators and orienteering fans around the world.
– And the product must be interesting to venue partners and sponsors.
2025 World Cup goes to Sweden, Belgium and Switzerland
The Orienteering World Cup will in the coming years consist of 3-6 rounds annually with 2-4 competition days each.
The 2025 edition of the World Cup contains three rounds: Three forest races in Idre Fjäll, Sweden in June, three sprint races in Hasselt, Belgium alongside EOC in August and another three sprint races in Uster, Switzerland for the final round in September.
Read the pre-bulletin for the 2025 Orienteering World Cup here.
The plans for this year’s Orienteering World Cup is already well underway with the first races taking place in Olten, Switzerland in May.